Wild, wild NANS

The 31st National Convention of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has ended in violence in Gombe State. Delegates fled the venue, following sporadic gunfire by hoodlums. The development has led to another division in the association, barely two years after all factions agreed to work together. Two presidents emerged after the aborted convention.TEMITOPE YAKUBU (Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti), Precious Dikewoha (University of Port Harcourt) and SEGUN ODUNAYO (Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko) report.

For students, it was cheery news when the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) factions closed ranks in 2014 and elected a unified leadership. Barely two years after, NANS appears divided again.

Two presidents emerged from its deadlocked national convention at the Pantami International Stadium in Gombe State last week. They are Tonye Tom-George of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) and Chinonson Ubasi of the Ebonyi State University (EBSU) in Abakaliki. Chinonson reportedly declared himself as NANS president. Tonye claimed to have been elected when the students relocated to Abuja for the convention. The four-day convention ended abruptly, following heavy gunfires.

Could there have been an election at a convention marred by violence? This is the question being asked by students, who expressed disappointment over their leaders’ conduct. It was learnt that the convention was postponed three times for fear of violence. There were eight candidates vying for the president. But, the race was clearly between Chinonso and Kadiri Aruna of the Ambrose Alli University (AAU) in Ekpoma, Edo State.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the event was peaceful until the time for nomination of convention officers, who will supervise the election. The violence was reportedly triggered by the nomination of Kadiri’s campaign manager, Prince Miaphen, as the convention chairman.

Other candidates and their supporters rejected Prince’s nomination on the ground that he could not chair an election in which his candidate was a contestant. Prince, they argued, lacked the moral right to organise a free and fair election.

Fracas broke out in the heat of the argument, resulting in a free-for-all. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that gunfires echoed, causing the delegates to run in different directions. Machetes and other dangerous weapons were freely used by the rampaging hoodlums.

It was learnt that the combined team of security agents, including soldiers, police and Department of State Service (DSS) operatives, left in the middle of the convention, paving the way for the hoodlums to have their way.

None of the candidates for president was nominated before the violence, it was gathered. Amid the fracas, the convention was declared inconclusive and the delegates were asked to leave.

But, Chinonso, known as IBB, and his supporters, allegedly reconvened at the stadium after other delegates had left and purportedly held an election in which he was the sole candidate. Chinonso was declared the new NANS chief.

Chinonso and his team visited Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo, who congratulated him. Reacting, the delegates, who are Students’ Union leaders on their campuses, described Chinonso’s action as shocking. They declared his purported election was null and void, because it was not a product of the NANS convention.

During a visit to The Nation Port Harcourt office on Monday, Tonye apologised to students who were injured during the aborted convention, describing it as a show of rascality, intimidation and impunity.

He said when the senators (SUG presidents) discovered that they and their fellow students were not safe, they relocated to Abuja to conduct a peaceful election where he was declared winner.

He thanked the police, DSS, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDCS) and the Special Assistant to the President on Youth and Students’ Matter for ensuring that no life was lost in the violence.

Narrating what led to the violence, Tonye said: “The Director-General of one of the nominees became the convention chairman and other aspirants kicked against it. That was what led to the crisis. Students were chased out of the venue and in the process of running for safety many people got injured.

“But when the delegates realised that the place was not safe for us anymore, we relocated to Abuja with the help of the security agencies. The election was peacefully conducted and I was declared winner of the election.”

He promised to ensure students’ welfare and socio-economic development, renovate dilapidated hostels in tertiary institutions and fight for non-increment of tuition fees.

The outgoing NANS Public Relations Officer (PRO), Damilare Fagbodun, rejected Chinonso’s “one-man show”, saying it was an attempt to factionalise the association. He said: “It is unfortunate that some people, who should focus on genuine struggle for the emancipation of students, have been making efforts to factionalise NANS because of their loyalty to a political party.”

Damilare said Governor Dankwambo would be sued for recognising Chinonso as the new NANS president.

Simbiat Ogunlayi, a delegate and student of the College of Health Technology in Ijero Ekiti, said there was no election at the convention. She said the violence stopped the process and the delegates left the venue immediately.

She said: “There are many questions which Chinonso and his supporters must answer. When and where did the purported election hold? Which convention committee supervised the process? Who were the delegates that voted for him? Who called for that kangaroo convention?”

Simbiat described Chinonso as a “selfish candidate” and “power monger”.

A delegate from Rivers State, Innocent Lenee, said Prince is the only convention chairman recognised by students. He asked Chinonso to name members of the convention committee that supervised his election.

He said: “It must be known that NANS presently has only one interim national officer in the person of Prince Miaphen, who was elected as convention chairman. The violence that greeted the convention has created a constitutional crisis in NANS, because the association’s constitution is silent on a situation where there is no president.

“In effect, Prince cannot be addressed as Acting President, but as convention chairman. The best way to go is to urgently fix a new date for the election to be held. This crisis should enable the incoming executive to look into the inconsistencies in the NANS constitution and review them.”

National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) Vice President Olawale Seriki said the nomination of convention chairman was inconclusive, asking Prince to stop parading himself as chairman of the NANS convention committee.

He said: “Prince is a bundle of deceit. He purposely postponed the convention to jeopardise the whole process without giving it a second thought. It is also unconstitutional for Prince to call himself Acting President of NANS. We will institute a legal action against him if he supervises the election, because he lacks the moral right to do so. We know they have agenda, which is why they tried to install him as convention chairman.”

Prince has sent a petition to the Federal Government not to recognise Chinonso as NANS president. In the petition sent through the Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Youth and Students’ Matter, Nasir Adama, Prince said there is a vacuum in NANS and that the association has not elected anyone as its president.

Copies of the petition were sent to the ministers of Education, Youth and Sports Development, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Committee of Vice-Chancellors (CVC) and the media.

The petition advised Adama and the federal agencies to arrest and prosecute anyone parading himself as NANS president.

The petition reads: “On July 18, 2016, at about 4:30pm, when I, Comrade Prince Miaphen, emerged as the chairman at the 31st national convention of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at Pantami International Stadium in Gombe State, I immediately commenced with the expected procedure, which was to conduct elections into the national offices of NANS.

“At about 5:45 pm of the same date, I saw a team of armed thugs, advancing towards the convention venue. In the process, they beat up and intimidated delegates to the convention. I was also severely beaten by the thugs.

“It should be known that I called off the convention after the delegates said they could not continue with the process, because of security breaches at the venue.”

Chinonso’s camp accused the outgoing NANS president, Tijani Usman Shehu, of masterminding the violence. Tijani, it was alleged, wanted to impose his “preferred candidates” on the association.

A peace meeting called at the instance of the outgoing president in Abuja, last Thursday, ended in a brawl. One of Chinonso’s supporters, Yinka Dada, was allegedly stabbed by Tijani. A participant at the meeting, Kabiru Ibrahim, told CAMPUSLIFE that Tijani stabbed Yinka on the arm when the latter opposed the outgoing NANS leader’s plea to allow his anointed candidate, Igwe Ude-Umanta, be the General Secretary.

When contacted on telephone, Tijani neither denied nor confirmed the allegation, but ended the call. Tijani did not pick his calls afterwards.